A Walk Along the Rogue River Gorge

Enroute from Crater Lake to Crescent City, we stopped at the Rogue River Gorge trail, a 3.5 mile long trail that takes hikers to a spectacular view of the Rogue River cascading through a constricted channel of basalt lava.

The trail starts at the Natural Bridge Viewpoint parking lot and travels upriver on the east side of the Rogue River. The Upper Rogue River Trail traverses the west side of the river. You pass by Natural Bridge and Union Creek Campgrounds before arriving at the Rogue Gorge, located just off Hwy. 62 north of the Union Creek Resort.

The gorge area offers an interesting display of pothole formations. These smooth depressions were sculpted into solid rock by the continuous spinning of small rocks churned by the swift river currents. They are especially obvious in a section of dry riverbed above the gorge.

A short loop hike is possible by crossing the Rogue River at the Natural Bridge Viewpoint footbridge and following the Upper Rogue River Trail to the Natural Bridge Campground, returning on the Rogue Gorge Trail to Natural Bridge Viewpoint.

I’ll just add that you don’t have to do the full trail, and that just doing the east side of the gorge in the early morning of a beautiful summer day makes for a very fine walk.